A century ago America went to war against Spain. It was a short, popular war which lasted a few months and featured easy victories. For wargamers this war is a problem because the battles were too uneven. Commodore Dewey opened the war by destroying the Spanish fleet in Manilla Bay, a battle in which no American was killed by enemy fire. Later in Cuba, Theodore Roosevelt charged up San Juan Hill and Admiral Sampson destroyed Admiral Cervera's fleet in the Battle of Santiago. It's hard to make an interesting game of any of these. That may be an overstatement; Roosevelt's home on Long Island contains a boxed parlour game named "San Juan Hill." Also Manilla Bay has more game potential than most people would expect.
There is also a battle that might have been fought that can be an interesting wargame. What if Cervera's fleet on its way from Spain to Cuba met and fought one American battleship? The U.S. Navy had alerted the American captain, and he had a battle plan ready. What would have happened if the USS Oregon fought the Spanish fleet under Admiral Cervera?
When Admiral Cervera left Spain to cross the Atlantic with it, his fleet was made up of four cruisers and two torpedo boats. Word was immediately cabled to America. The cities of the east coast panicked, but Cervera was not headed for them. He was going to Cuba, but in those days ships had to stop frequently to take on coal, so Cervera's fleet stopped for coal in the West Indies.
Meanwhile the Americans were preparing for war. The Army was a mess. It had a few thousand men in the West left over from Indian wars, but no war plans. The Army would improvise the war. Some regular army units were in excellent shape and there would be a flood of volunteers.
The Navy was in pretty good shape. In recent years the U.S. Navy had built a series of modern battleships. They were equipped with the latest steam engines, armour, and a large variety of guns. This was before the era of the all big gun ship.
The Oregon was probably the best of the lot; she exceeded design requirements. Built to do fifteen knots an hour, she did eighteen knots during her trials. Unfortunately, the Oregon was out of position on the west coast. To get to the war, she would have to steam down the west coast of South America, through the Straits of Magellan, and up the east coast of South America. This would involve sixty-seven days and require several coaling stops along the way. At each stop the Oregon could communicate by cable. As she steamed into the Caribbean Sea the Naval Department worried that the Oregon would meet Cervera's fleet and be sunk. The Oregon's captain, Charles E. Clark, prepared for battle confident he could defeat the whole Spanish fleet. Ever since, historians have speculated about how it would have turned out. Could America's finest battleship defeat a fleet of Spanish ships? It is a question pondered by no less an expert than Alfred Thayer Mahan, the man who wrote The Influence of Sea Power in History. He was only the first.
This is our wargame. I'll provide a short description of the ships and some drawings that could be used as models. I'll also suggest some ideas about rules and solo play.
The Ships
United States
Oregon Captain Charles E. Clark. This is a first class battleship of the day. The crew has done lots of target practice. Statistics: Displacement: 10,288 tons. Length: 350 ft 11 inches. Width: 69 ft 3 inches. Draft: 24 ft. Armament: 4 x 13 inch guns, 8 x 8 inch, 4 x 6 inch; 20 x 6 pounder; 6 x 1 pounder Heavy armor Speed: 18 knots.
(The guns above and following are not the modem naval guns of, say, World War 1. Rules should reflect this. Speed is battle speed.)
Spain
Christobal Colon This is a fast Italian-built cruiser. Unfortunately, it lacks its main gun due to Spanish incompetence. Statistics: Displacement: 7,234 tons. Length: 344 ft. Width: 59 ft. 10 inch. Draft 23 ft., 3 1/2 inch. Armament: 2 x 8 inch guns, 14 x 6 inch, 10 x 3 inch, 6 x 47 mm; 2 maxim machine guns and 4 x 17.7 inch torpedo tubes. Light armour. Sea speed: 17.5 knots.
Maria Teresa, Vizcaya, Oquendo All of the same class, light cruisers. Statistics: Displacement: 6890 tons. Length: 364 ft. Width: 65 ft. Draft: 21 ft. 6 in. Armament: 2 x 11 inch guns; 10 x 5.5 inch; 8 x 12 pounder quick firing, 10 x 3 pounders, Hotchkiss revolvers; 10 machine guns; 8 torpedo tubes. Good armour, lighter than the Oregon's. Speed: 20 knots.
Furor This is a torpedo boat. Statistics: Displacement: 370 tons. Length: 220 feet. Width: 22 feet. Draft: 5 ft. 6 in. Armament: 2 x 14 pounders quick firers, 2 x 6 pounders quick firers; 2 x 1 pound, Maxims; 2 x 14 inch torpedo tubes. No armour. Speed 25 knots,
Pluton This is another torpedo boat. Statistics: Displacement: 400 tons. Length: 225 ft. Width: 22 ft. 6 in. Draft: 5 ft., 9 in. Armament: same as Furor above. No armour. Speed 30 knots.
Simple 1900 Rules
The following rules are modified a bit from "Naval Rules for 1900 Period," by R W. Dickinson in Don Featherstone's Naval War Games. The table below shows movement and defensive point value for each ship. Ships are sunk when their defensive points are wiped out
| Ship | Move | Defensive points |
|---|---|---|
| Oregon | 11 inches | 20 |
| Christabol Colon | 11 inches | 16 |
| Maria Teresa | 12 inches | 14 |
| Vizcaya | 12 inches | 14 |
| Quendo | 12 inches | 14 |
| Furor | 15 inches | 6 |
| Pluton | 16 inches | 6 |
The Gunnery table shows range and damage done by guns. The shooter rolls a six-sided die (D6) to determine misses, hits, or direct hits. Roll a die for each gun that bears and deduct the hit points from defence points listed above. 6 = direct hit; 1 and 3 = hit; 2, 4, and 5 = a miss
| GUNNERY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Calibre in Inches | Range in Inches | Hit Points | Direct Hit Points |
| 13 in. | 36 in. | 2 3/4 | 3 |
| 11in. | 28 in | 1 1/2 | 1 3/4 |
| 8 in. | 34 in | 2 1/2 | 2 1/2 |
| 6 in & 5.5 in | 24 in | 1 | 1 1/4 |
| 3 in | 18 in | 1/4 | 1/2 |
| Torpedo | 18 in | 2 | 4 |
I have omitted the smaller guns because in this situation they are unlikely to matter. Is this a mistake? Torpedoes are fired from the side. The Spanish cruisers would have an equal number of torpedo tubes firing from each side. The torpedo boat could fire all tubes from either side.
Sequence of play:
These rules are offered as a simple set for players with no naval rules in their collection. Those who have a good set of rules for the period will scorn them. The following models are offered with a similar assumption. They are useful for playing the game in a crude way. Real ship modelers will find them ludicrous. Photocopy them and glue them on balsa or cardboard shaped to match and they will serve the purpose.
Suggestions for Solo Play
This may go against the grain, but I would "program" the Oregon and play the Spanish Admiral. The Oregon will run away from the Spanish at first. Then she will turn and fight broadside. To start the game, roll two six-sided dice. Use the clock system. With the Oregon pointed toward 12 o'clock, place the Spanish fleet with the nearest ship 40 inches away headed towards the Oregon. The dice determine the direction they approach from. If the roll is six, they are at the rear, If they are at 9, they are coming from the left side etc. Sort out and shuffle ten playing cards, ace through ten. At the start of each move after the first, pick a card. When you pull the ace, the Oregon turns to fire broadside.
You may also want to program the Spaniards a bit. Take some 3 x 5 inch note cards and sketch a variety of formations, one on each card. Turn the cards face down and shuffle. The top card will be the Spanish formation when they sight the Oregon.
Once the ships are on the table, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." OOPS! Wrong battle - that was Manilla Bay. Maybe sometime soon we can take a look at gaming it, but for now, if you play this scenario how about sending a battle report to Lone Warrior?
Bibliography
Beach, Edward L. The United States Navy: 200 Years, (1986).
Chesneu, Rogeret, et. al. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905. (1979).
Featherstone, Donald F. Naval War Games: Fighting Sea Battles with Model Ships. (1975)
Jane, Frederick T. Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1898. (1898)
Mahan, Alfred T. Lessons of the War with Spain. (1899)
More Spanish-American War
Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #122
Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 1998 by Solo Wargamers Association.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com